Masters Degrees (Graphic)

The MA Graphic Design course at The University of Central Lancashire encourages the diversity of design study that is possible within the wider field of Graphic Design. The course focus is rooted in visual communication research, underpinned by theory and with an emphasis on the development of a very personal body of practical work. Throughout the course students are encouraged to pursue a unique personal line of inquiry within any area of contemporary graphic design practice or explore the potential of design diversity. By the end of the course all students should have completed a cohesive body of work to a professional standard and be able to clearly articulate a sound intellectual rationale and a broad critical viewpoint.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND ASSESSMENT

Practical work is carried out within our extensive and very well equipped studios and workshops.

Full time and part time students will be required to attend the Friday morning lecture programme throughout semesters 1 and 2. Full time students will also attend weekly seminars and tutorial sessions during the week. Part time students are scheduled for their practical sessions on a Friday afternoon, so that their commitment on campus allows for day release from their place of employment.

Evening tutorial sessions may be available from time to time for some students who are unable to attend in the day. Many of the Friday morning lectures are filmed for supporting distance learning or those who miss sessions.

Study is further supported by a lecture programme of visiting practitioners from a variety of design disciplines.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Graphic designers can work in many different areas, from traditional print for book design in the publishing industry and packaging design for the food and drink industry, to the digital arena of web design and new media. Often, the career path of an artist or designer does not take a particularly conventional route. Some graphic designers work on a freelance basis, whilst many work for design agencies or as part of in-house departments of larger companies. Life as a graphic designer can be exceedingly fast-paced and challenging as well as highly exciting.

A design related masters degree can provide a platform from which to enter employment in a range of other exciting sectors, such as: Art & Design; Teaching & Education; Advertising, Marketing & PR Media Culture; Music & Performing Arts; Management Consulting; Business & Admin; Hospitality & Tourism; Retail & Sales; Recruitment & Human Resources; Charity, Not-for-profit & NGO.

The MA course exists within the context of the University module scheme. The theory and practical modules run alongside in order to inform each other. Design Research 1 and 2 are theoretical modules that provide an opportunity to explore research methodologies appropriate to Graphic Design and the broader area of visual communication. A special feature of the course is the Friday morning lecture programmes with lectures from subject specific academics, guest speakers and practicing designers who are at the top of their profession. Graphic Design Practice 3 incorporates a theoretical element to summarize and complement the final practical body of work.

Throughout the programme students will continue to explore the links and concerns between theory and graphic design practice. The practical modules (Practice 1, 2 & 3) are designed to allow students to pursue their own specific individual design research project, which is a major investigation into a particular personal area of study. A key element of the practice sessions are to facilitate the opportunity to generate, investigate and test new ideas. The programme then culminates with a final public exhibition of student work.

OPPORTUNITIES

The MA Graphic Design programme is also delivered at our partner University in Thessaloniki, Greece. Students are able to study there for one semester. The MA will help further career opportunities in the field of Graphic Design and Visual Communication, giving recognition to each student’s individual practical and intellectual abilities.

The opportunity for a structured work experience will be provided for every student who requests it. This is a major commitment by the University to help our graduates to reach their potential and thrive in their careers after graduation.

Study trips are an essential part of research activity that brings design to life. Throughout the programme, students are introduced to contemporary influences with International city trips and study visits to exhibitions and museums - Manchester, London, Berlin and New York have been regular trips in recent years (students will be required to pay for overseas trips/visits and are therefore optional).

With an MA in Graphic Design, there are many other opportunities to explore and career options worth considering that require the broad range of skills gained at masters level and related to graphic design / visual communication / art and design.

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-MA Graphic Design degree will develop your professional skills as a graphic designer
-You will work with design professionals of international standing
-This Master's degree gives you the opportunity to work in professional and industrial contexts
-Opportunity to spend a semester in Germany at the prestigious Hochschule Mannheim as part of your course

Why choose this course?

MA Graphic Design sits within the MA Art and Design programme at the School of Creative Arts. There is strong emphasis on professional practice and the real-world applications of art and design, where you will develop key research skills and gain a good understanding of the work of other practitioners in your field.

The aim of the postgraduate programme is to equip you with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to practice at an advanced level, to foster your creativity and enhance your employment opportunities. You will work alongside artists and designers who are involved with a wide variety of media and forms. Induction, seminars and social events for students and staff mean that you will be part of a friendly and supportive postgraduate community, which also includes film makers, musicians and professionals working in new media. Senior research staff and internationally renowned artists work with postgraduate students, helping you to develop original and challenging work.

Visual communication and the graphic image are increasingly important in the global information economy. On this masters degree, you will be encouraged to adopt a creative, enquiring and critical approach to the graphic image and its uses in contemporary practice.

From traditional craft processes to digital image making, exploring the graphic image and its uses, in both web based and print formats. We focus on professional practice and enterprise, helping you acquire the skills required to practice in the creative and cultural industries, and equipping you with the skills necessary to work as a freelance practitioner. Key aspects of the course also include social, political, environmental and commercial contexts of graphic design, and the processes by which graphic signs operate to convey meanings in various environments.

Our staff are experienced in research and professional practice, and you will also benefit from contributions from visiting designers and design professionals, as well as from involvement with our international exhibitions programme and our close links with industry partners.

Careers

Particular emphasis is given to providing you with the skills necessary to further your career as a graphic designer. The course is designed to help you understand and work within the contemporary industrial environment and particular attention is given to helping you acquire entrepreneurial skills.

Teaching methods

This course is designed to help you develop your practice and give you the skills recovery to further your career in industry both in the UK and abroad. The course includes practice based modules where you will explore and develop your work as a graphic designer. It also contains course or research skills, entrepreneurialism and professional practice. The final part of the course enables you to complete a major project.

Structure

Core Modules
-Creative Enterprise and Context
-Discourse / Reflection: Art and Design
-Major Study: Graphic Design
-Practice 1: Art and Design
-Practice 2: Art and Design
-Research and Enquiry

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Our MA Graphic Communication is an ideal opportunity to develop your skills and interests by exploring the creative issues and technical aspects of graphic design today. For designers working in industry, it offers a platform for career development by revising, developing and updating your skills.

The practical element of this masters degree in graphic communication is strengthened by an enhanced critical understanding of contemporary professional design debates, issues and trends, plus a greater understanding of research methodologies and how to apply them effectively.

If you choose to study on a creative postgraduate course at the University of South Wales, you will also benefit from being part of a vibrant international student community.

See the website http://courses.southwales.ac.uk/courses/130-ma-graphic-communication

What you will study

The MA Graphic Communication includes the following modules:
- Graphic Communication Principles
- Design Research Methods
- Design Masters Project
- Professional Design Practice
- Graphic Communication Major Project
- Graphic Communication Independent Study

Additionally, international students can choose a Design History and Context module to engage with historic and contemporary global design issues.

Common Modules:
The Faculty understands the importance of a strong grounding in research knowledge and skills, enterprise and innovation as part of a balanced postgraduate education.

We also recognise that each student has different requirements of their postgraduate experience.

You can choose to study one of the following three, 20 credit common modules. Each of these has a different focus, enabling you to select the module that will be most beneficial to you.

- Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship
This module aims to develop your knowledge of the methods to identify, develop and manage enterprise and innovation in the creative sector. It will then help you apply this to your own entrepreneurial project.

- Research and Practice in the Creative and Cultural Industries
The focus of this module is on the development of research knowledge and skills, while also encouraging critical engagement with approaches to creative practice. You will also explore ideas, debates and issues in the creative and cultural industries.

- Research Paradigms
This module focuses on research paradigms and their theoretical underpinnings. It also looks at key conceptual tools drawn from a wide range of subject areas relevant to postgraduate research in the creative industries.

Learning and teaching methods

At the University of South Wales, we pride ourselves on providing a creative, friendly and professional environment. Our well-equipped studios include state-of-the art Macintosh computers and PC facilities with industry-standard software packages. Studio and workshop tutorials are supplemented by lectures, seminars, integrated case-study analysis, discussion groups and multimedia presentations. Staff are active in research and/or consultancy, and are often joined by a range of visiting designers and practitioners.

Work Experience and Employment Prospects

During the MA Graphic Communication course, you will develop the practical, analytical, technological and problem-solving skills needed to meet the complex and changing role of the graphic designer.

Assessment methods

Learning Through Employment:
Learning Through Employment is a University of South Wales framework that offers students who are already in employment the opportunity to gain credits towards a postgraduate qualification.

The programme is structured so that the majority of learning takes place through active and reflective engagement with your work activities, underpinned by the appropriate academic knowledge and skills.

All postgraduate courses in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries offer students the opportunity to undertake a 60 credit Learning Through Employment Research Project as an alternative to a traditional final dissertation, major project or production.

The focus of the project is an individual, organisational problem solving, knowledge-based approach.

As such, it has been is designed for practising professionals to provide them with the tools to succeed in the workplace.

This truly flexible approach means that projects can be based on an agreed area of work, benefitting students and employers, and because the majority of the project is carried out in the workplace, it can potentially be undertaken anywhere in the world.

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Graphic Design is a sophisticated mode of communication in the twenty-first century. Consumers access ideas through the visual language of graphic forms and their experiences are shaped by the relations we, as designers, create between form and image. Graphic Design is made up of many different processes and inhabits a multitude of contexts. In the design of information graphics for different commercial and artistic platforms the world of the graphic designer occupies both physical and digital arenas. Graphic Design contributes to a system building process where the interface between type and meaning is at the forefront of innovative and dynamic communication tools of the future.

Our MA in Graphic Design offers continuing or recent graduates from creative design subjects with an opportunity to enhance their knowledge, creative skills and employment prospects. Our course aims to encourage you to push the boundaries of graphic practice with the development of innovative and imaginative concepts and ideas relevant to the design of graphic products and artefacts. We will introduce you to a variety of platforms and a range of situations and contexts within which graphic design sits, enabling you to experiment, expand, progress and communicate your ideas through different forms and processes. Our practice-led modules facilitate opportunities for you to produce high quality portfolios often underpinned by industry focused trends and competition briefs.

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Why take this course?

Take your design and visual communication skills further by producing your own research-driven project.

Explore a range of different design methodologies such as typography or publication design, and apply them to ‘real-world’ situations and scenarios. Your aim will be to channel design engagement while creating links with industry and the professional design community.

What will I experience?

On this course you can:

Extend the view of accepted practice by producing cutting-edge and intellectually and stimulating graphic design using the latest software and equipment
Develop your understanding of graphic design through in-depth research based study
Develop a strong critical discourse in relation to your work

What opportunities might it lead to?

You are encouraged to firmly ground your developments within a professional context by testing and applying your work in real world settings. This will often open future possibilities for employment and entrepreneurship on graduating from the course.

Here are some routes our graduates have pursued:

Graphic design
Typographic design
Type design
Website design
New media design
Magazine design publishing
Work in the television and film industries
Art direction
Design management
Research

Module Details

This course aims to help you learn independently through research-based study, culminating in a critically reflective report which will document the iterative development of your research, whilst outlining the various relationships to theory and historical and contemporary contexts for your chosen research area. You will also position your work in relation to what is happening at the forefront of the subject area.

Here are the units you will study:

A Question of Research: This unit provides an introduction to debates and research methods relevant for creative practitioners and their application to a pertinent research question. It also encourages self reflection on the research process.

Contextual Report: This unit provides the opportunity for you to utilise and apply advanced research and written communication skills to a critically evaluated report that documents and describes the origination, and development through to conclusion of a designed artefact(s) as a response to a sustained programme of independent research.

Proposal: This unit is about writing a project proposal for the Masters research project.

Resolution: You will draw together the various threads of their research-informed practice and practice-informed research undertaken during their project and produce a resolved body of work.

Programme Assessment

You will receive guidance and supervision throughout the programme that encourages independent learning. There will be regular contact teaching time but we also aim for you to engage in the wider studio culture that develops within the subject area alongside the undergraduate students in graphic design.

You will be assessed after the submission of your work for each unit. We also present structured feedback to ensure your research is on the right track.

Student Destinations

We anticipate that once you have completed this degree the scope of your opportunities within the graphic design profession will have widened. You will have a deeper knowledge and the skills to set up your own design studio or step into a more senior role in a graphic design agency. Alternatively, for those who wish to continue studying, there is always the option of progressing to doctoral level in your specialised area of graphic design.

Roles our graduates have taken on include:

Graphic designer
Digital marketing executive
Web designer
Production manager

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This Masters degree seeks to challenge established aesthetic structures, advance your artistic development and help you become a commercially aware practitioner in the graphic design and illustration industry.

•Course available to study full time (1 year) and part time (2 years)
•Develop your work in state-of-the-art workspaces and facilities within the modern, purpose-built and RIBA award-winning John Lennon Art and Design Building in the heart of Liverpool’s creative quarter
•Close links with industry and local creative agencies and professionals
•Prestigious Susan Cotton Travel Awards, the Michael Pugh Thomas and Julia Carter Preston Legacy study awards available
•The chance to visit key graphic design industry events, and serious opportunities to build a graphic design and illustration portfolio through collaborative projects with local festivals and creative ventures

This MA programme focuses on the cultural shifts at the centre of a rapidly moving Graphic Design and Illustration industry. The course has been specially designed to place craft and production activities firmly at the heart of its research and your development experience.

You will examine and explore the role of independent visual practice within the context of an ever-increasing interdisciplinary profession.

You will be expected to develop personal practice that challenges traditional perspectives on both Graphic Design and Illustration disciplines while, at the same time, engaging with industry partners that have established profiles in commercial practice. A particular emphasis will be placed on expanded forms of publishing as a method of developing your professional practice and realising your career ambitions.

The programme is based in the Liverpool School of Art and Design’s John Lennon Art and Design Building, a purpose-built facility in Liverpool City Centre, which brings together each of the varied disciplines studied at the School. The nature of the building and the interdisciplinary ethos of the School facilitate collaborative project opportunities and enable you to share ideas and expertise. You can read more about the work of the graphic design students and staff by visiting our blog.

What you will study on this degree

Please see guidance below on core and option modules for further information on what you will study.

Research and Practice

Discover a diverse range of historical, theoretical and critical principles that underpin and inform current and emerging graphic design and illustration practice

Studio Practice

Define your existing practice and extend its scope and ambition through a combination of self-initiated and/or set projects designed to challenge their preconceived notions of graphic design and illustration practice

Collaboration and Publication

Work closely with external partners in the UK and abroad in the proposal and planning of collaborative creative projects and initiatives. Outcomes may be a hypothetical proposals or applied projects

Major Project

Bring together all of the skills that you have acquired during the course of the programme

Further guidance on modules

The information listed in the section entitled ‘What you will study’ is an overview of the academic content of the programme that will take the form of either core or option modules. Modules are designated as core or option in accordance with professional body requirements and internal Academic Framework review, so may be subject to change. Students will be required to undertake modules that the University designates as core and will have a choice of designated option modules. Additionally, option modules may be offered subject to meeting minimum student numbers.

Academic Framework reviews are conducted by LJMU from time to time to ensure that academic standards continue to be maintained.

Please email [email protected] if you require further guidance or clarification.

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Our MA Graphic Design course has been structured to promote the role of designers as skilled professional communicators, and firmly embed a culture of research and problem solving into creative practice.

Our course, taught at UCA Epsom, aims to promote specialism and mastery in your own unique area of graphic design - which you'll identify and develop with us on this MA. Enabling you to produce meaningful outcomes from informed research is a top priority.

Using the extensive industry links brought by our course staff, you'll be encouraged to foster connections with industry partners within your area of specialism. With the help of visiting lecturers, industry experts and live briefs, you'll gain real-life experience of the design industry. And emphasis will be placed on how to present both yourself and your design work in a professional arena.

The industry orientation of this course is concerned with exploring graphic design languages in all their facets. You'll enhance your understanding of the aesthetic and commercial value of your work, and accrue professional experience which will add innovation to your practice.

On this course you'll taught through a range of lectures, workshops, tutorials, live pitches and presentations. We also place a strong emphasis on independent research.

Industry Partner

You'll benefit from well-established industry links with corporate, media, cultural and creative organisations.

Our course has links with:

-Design Bridge

-Pearlfisher (design group)

-FutureBrand

-The Brewery

-The BBC

-Imagine

-Bloom

-Interbrand

We also have regular guest lecturers and recent guests have included:

-Richard Williams - Founder of Williams Murray Hamm

-Tim Perkins - Group Director of Design Bridge

-Philip Carter - Founder of Carter Wong Tomlin

-Helen Healy - Picture Editor for the Guardian newspaper.

Careers

MA Graphic Design alumni go on to work in a diverse variety of exciting careers. Employment opportunities include:

-Graphic design

-Museum design

-Web or interactive design

-Picture editing

-Freelance design or illustration

-Brand design

-Packaging design

-Retail design

-Art direction

-Design management.

Virtual Media Space

Visit our Postgraduate Virtual Media Space to find out more about our courses, see what it's like to study at UCA and gain access to our campus virtual tours.

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This creative and experimental MA in Graphic Arts brings together graphic designers, illustrators, and individuals from related industries to engage with communication design practice at a deeper level. You will research, investigate and debate the nature and dynamics of communication, and explore how they can produce meaningful outcomes using conventional and unconventional forms.

You will develop your design process: from creative strategies for generating ideas; gathering and analysing information; producing text; to producing final outcomes to industry standards. Skills development is embedded throughout and a vital re-skilling stage, a series of technical workshops delivered by experienced technical staff, ensures you are up-to-date and industry-ready.

Students value the experience and expertise of staff and the extensive, cutting-edge facilities and workshop areas covering digital and traditional print, media, film and animation, fabrication, photography, and apple mac suites.

Course detail

You will benefit from the opportunities generated by the University's strong links to the creative and media industries. Regular guest speakers from industry and live collaborative projects provide invaluable opportunities to gain real-world knowledge and experience. Our students continue to perform well in both local and national awards and competitions.

The course will offer you the chance to extend your practice and explore new areas in the changing world of industry and design. Learning to be independent, to research effectively, to question and to be critical, and to sustain practice for the long term.

Students learn up to date technical skills in design for print, web, motion graphics, and fabrication.

Modules

• Introduction to Graphic Arts (30 credits)
• Research Practice (30 credits)
• Analysing Practice in Graphic Arts (30 credits)
• Developing Practice in Graphic Arts (30 credits)
• Extended Practice in Graphic Arts (60 credits)

Format

You will be based in the department's Graphic Design studios at one of our city centre locations. You will study through a combination of one to one tutorials, group tutorials, seminars, lectures, technical workshops and day projects. Initially there are set briefs to assist you in writing your own study proposal for the MA stage.

Assessment

You will be assessed by a combination of practical and written work at the end of each module.

Careers / Further study

Many of our graduates enter or continue employment in the creative industries as freelance designers whilst others run their own companies or work for large clients. Recent graduates have taken up positions at: The Creative Place Ltd, London; Graham & Green, London; and Proctor & Stevenson, Bristol. Others have secured work producing packaging design for supermarkets like Asda and Lidl. Some work in the education sector at Universities and Colleges in this country and beyond including University of Liverpool, University of Gloucester, Southampton Solent University, Filton College, Weston College, plus institutions abroad.

How to apply

Information on applications can be found at the following link: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/study/applyingtouwebristol/postgraduateapplications.aspx

Funding

- New Postgraduate Master's loans for 2016/17 academic year –

The government are introducing a master’s loan scheme, whereby master’s students under 60 can access a loan of up to £10,000 as a contribution towards the cost of their study. This is part of the government’s long-term commitment to enhance support for postgraduate study.

Scholarships and other sources of funding are also available.

More information can be found here: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/students/feesandfunding/fundingandscholarships/postgraduatefunding.aspx

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Introduction

Taught in both part time and full time modes, MA Graphic and Media Design is concerned with establishing a distinct understanding of the fields of graphic design and visual culture, as well as those that infect, destabilise and unravel it. We invite thoughtful, critical, productive individuals interested in the effective articulation of design.

Content

Students of this course are situated within a thriving, active and progressive site of award winning pedagogic development and critical debate. MA Graphic and Media Design has evolved from LCC's highly regarded MA Graphic Design course, renowned for its excellence in teaching and learning for postgraduate study in the subject and practice of graphic design.

Practice-based inquiry will drive the programme of study in collaboration with the course tutors, fellow students and external partners. Working with students to establish the priorities of their practice, the course team will acknowledge prior experiences and future agendas.

MA Graphic and Media Design runs alongside a suite of established and newly developed post-graduate courses spanning the rich and diverse spectrum of the current and emergent practices in the fields of visual communication, illustration, interaction design, service design, branding and identity, advertising, documentary, journalism, photography, publishing, public relations, sound arts and screenwriting. This diversity of individual and collective pursuits promotes a rich discursive arena for all engaged.

Structure

MA Graphic and Media Design is delivered in two modes to accommodate those interests and external commitments, full-time (45 weeks) and part-time (90 weeks). This is a particularly distinctive feature, as we are one of the only courses in the United Kingdom to offer this option for postgraduate study in the subject.

Unit 1

Critical Perspectives & Methodologies (60 credits)

Unit 2

Collaborative Unit (20 credits)

Unit 3

Design Inquiry & Definition (40 credits)

Unit 4

Final Major Project or Major Project: Thesis (60 credits)

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The MA Graphic Design course encourages designers to explore ways of developing understanding between co-communicators.

You will do this by systematically interrogating design practice, through using design methods to analyse and comprehend situations and behaviour and by generating alternative and novel visual solutions. Students apply to the course predominantly from graphic design courses but are welcomed from a variety of backgrounds (if they can show an aptitude for typography) where they may have studied photography, architecture, illustration, interaction design, three dimensional design, fine art, or, subjects such as journalism, philosophy, psychology, anthropology or sociology. Whatever your background, you will be required to reflect on your worldview; the underlying assumptions and understanding that guides and constrains your practice, and to use this reflection as a starting point from which to further develop. Your practice can take many forms: it can be self-expressive, or socially orientated; print, screen-based or three-dimensional. It can focus on an aspect of a well-defined area of design, such as branding, experimental typography, publishing, and user-centred design, or on something more unconventional defined as part of your study.

Depending on what kind of focus you identify you will select one of three different types of Professional Development Portfolio (PDP). These reflect either a business, academic or curatorial/editing focus and provide you with another way of tailoring your study to meet your aspirations.

Graphic designers often work in groups, sometimes comprising members from different disciplines. The MA Graphic Design course provides many opportunities to work in interdisciplinary ways as it sits alongside the courses of other disciplines. Many of the taught sessions such as the introduction to research methods and processes occur in these interdisciplinary groups. At other times however you will be developing your project with your supervisor and other students on your course. This will require you to develop a theoretical framework, methodology and research methods that support your research focus.

As a graphic designer you should anticipate the possible consequences of your design interventions, including the meanings constructed through your practice, in relation to ethical and sustainability issues as well as to other relevant contexts. Creative approaches are required that respond to complex situations in which many problems reside. Outcomes are not constrained by media or by limited interpretations of what it is to be a graphic designer.

Consequently, an outcome might involve the design of an experience or service, as much as it might concern more conventional forms of graphic production.

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Further your professional practice in graphic communication. Learn to challenge preconceived ideas and develop a truly innovative approach to your work. You'll be supported by practising designers and work on self-directed and industry-driven projects, while also honing your research skills.

Overview

Whether you’re a new graduate or an established, professional designer, our course will help you to engage with graphic design and typography at an advanced level.

You’ll explore working practices in graphic communication and look at issues that designers - and the industry - face. As well as furthering your professional understanding, you'll also be sharpening your academic knowledge and research skills.

Undertaking both self-directed and industry-driven projects, you’ll learn to challenge preconceived thinking and develop innovative approaches to your design work. You’ll also develop your creative thinking around the professional, business and social contexts of graphic communication.

Throughout the course, your project work will be supported by collaboration and dialogue with staff, visiting professionals and fellow students.

Teaching times: Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9am-5pm (full-time); Part-time: Wednesdays 10am-5pm in trimesters 1 and 2, Tuesdays 9am-1pm in trimester 4, tutorials by arrangement on Tuesdays in trimesters 5 and 6 (part-time).

Careers

Our Master's course will equip you for professional employment or self-employment in graphic design and design consultancy, as well as related fields like brand development, art-editorial design, publishing, typography/typesetting, advertising, and media design.

It will also give you a basis for a teaching career in higher education. You might decide to move on to a research degree, like our PhD Graphic Design and Typography.

You’ll also benefit from our links with industry, including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Sony, and a number of independent design practices and consultants.

Core modules

Process and Practice as Research
Interpretation and Origination: Modes of Graphic Authorship
Master's Dissertation Art and Design
Typographic Enquiry
Master's Project: Art and Design

Assessment

You’ll show your progress through a combination of portfolio work, evaluative commentaries, blog participation, group critiques, one-to-one tutorials, presentations, log books and analytical reports, and a 6,000-word research essay.

Where you'll study

Cambridge School of Art has been inspiring creativity since 1858 when it was opened by John Ruskin.

Engaging with current debates surrounding contemporary practice and with the state-of-the-art facilities, Cambridge School of Art houses light, bright studios, industry-standard film and photographic facilities, and 150-year-old printing presses alongside dedicated Apple Mac suites. Our digital art gallery, the Ruskin Gallery, exhibits both traditional shows and multimedia presentations, from national and international touring exhibitions and our own students.

We are the only university in Cambridge offering art and design courses at higher education level. A tight-knit community of artists, academics and over 900 students, we collaborate across our University, the creative industries, and other sectors. Cambridge is a centre for employment in the creative industries and there are rich opportunities for collaboration with the city’s entertainment, technological, scientific, arts and heritage industries.

Our graduates have a history of winning national and international awards and an excellent employment record. They include Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett and Dave Gilmour, Spitting Image creators Peter Fluck and Roger Law, and illustrator Ronald Searle, the creator of St Trinian's.

We’re part of the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences, a hub of creative and cultural innovation whose groundbreaking research has real social impact.

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MA Graphic Design explores the ever-changing landscape of graphic design, to create insightful and well-defined specialist projects. The course is uniquely centred around the staged creation of a year long self initiated design project which builds critical understand and alongside practical design applications. A journey that focuses on individual research and enquiry, asks questions, promotes curiosity and build design investigations, to meet the needs of tomorrow's ambitious designers and their future at the leading edge of the Creative Industries.


Why you should study MA Graphic Design at Middlesex

At Middlesex there is an opportunity to fully submerge your self within the discipline of graphic design and be part of the well-established, award winning Graphic Design Department. Where we take a problem solving approach to Graphic Design to explore contemporary design practice through design thinking, insight and co-design processes, prototyping ideas, methods of design analysis and through building expert collaborative networks and external partners. Students come from a wide range of design and creative backgrounds, all with their own individual skill set, experience and cultural background. A diverse working collective, working across project areas of typography & information, brand identity & campaigns, new technology & digital experiences, design writing & insight analysis, sustainability & environmental issues, structural packaging and book design.

Based in our £80 million Art and Design School and taught by some of the UK's leading practitioners from a range of disciplines, our course features world-class facilities and specialist workshops fitted with both new and traditional equipment. With opportunities to build industry contacts and exhibit your work off-site, you'll also gain the employability skills, exposure and experiences you need to navigate a successful career path in today's competitive creative industries.

Course highlights:

- Our facilities are among the best in the UK, with fully equipped 3d workshops, laser cutting and 3d printing, printmaking and letterpress, digital printing, reprographics, bookbinding and fully equipped photography, animation and film studios, with expert technical support
- Each self-initiated project is tailored to the individual to support individual specialism and next stage links to industry, research, design writing, PhD or education. With the aim to establish expert links and specialist networks for each project.
- An exhibition of your work in central London to create networking opportunities, build industry contacts in a professional environment
- To contribute to research themes within the course and be part of a growing alumni collective.
- Access to networking opportunities, world-leading design research and expertise through the Art & Design Research Institute (ADRI) on campus

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Introduction

Understanding, translating and communicating brand stories graphically: it's what today's key branding designers do. Driven by intelligent enquiry and evaluation, MA Graphic Branding and Identity challenges the whole meaning of graphic branding. Explore the strategic thinking underlying brands and look at how that strategy can drive the creative expression.

Content

Driven by intelligent enquiry and evaluation, this programme encourages students to challenge what is understood about the meaning of graphic branding. It explores the strategic thinking underlying brands and focuses on how that strategy can drive the creative expression.

Look around you and you will see examples of the power of brands - on the High Street, within organisations and in the media. From Coca Cola to Virgin, the most successful brands are worth billions.

This MA course focuses on the role of visual identity within branding. The aim is to produce versatile and creative practitioners who understand design within a business, social and cultural context.

It addresses the subject from a broad perspective, covering individual, group, cultural, national, international, corporate and commercial identities. You will be encouraged to look critically at the graphic elements which make up a contemporary visual identity. The emphasis is on practical design, supported by theoretical components and the application of clear research methodologies. As well as developing a deeper knowledge of branding and graphic design, you will gain an understanding of how to develop brand strategies and propositions. An important part of the course involves developing an independent personal project that investigates these principles and their application.

Learning at this level will be about research, intellectual engagement, discovery, interaction and change. The final product for us is not in itself the goal - it is the research, exploration, evaluation and intellectual understanding of branding and identity that makes this MA distinctive.

Structure

Phase 1

Unit 1.1 Design Literacy
Unit 1.2 Research Methods (Visual Research)
Unit 1.3 Major Project Proposal

Phase 2

Unit 2.1 Workshop Options Project
Unit 2.2 Design + Rhetoric
Unit 2.3 Research Methods: Major Project Definition

Phase 3

Unit 3.1 Major Project Resolution: Practical and Report or
Unit 3.2 Major Project Resolution: Thesis

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This course is concerned with the advanced exploration and application of principles of graphic design within the contexts of research and professional development. Engagement with digital and making technologies is central to discovering and harnessing new thinking in design.

This course is of particular relevance to those interested in effective visual communication and developing innovative concepts and approaches in publication design, illustration, motion graphics, corporate identity, photography, design for digital media and graphic design for advertising.

Design Network

Based in the heart of the School of Art, MA/MFA Design: Graphic Design and Art Direction is part of an innovative design network — a community of staff and students exploring design ideas in a discursive, cross-disciplinary studio environment. Critically informed practical designers, the group works experimentally, inspired by new insights and possibilities.

While studying towards a particular qualification at MA/MFA level, students experience their subject in the broader context of contemporary design practice.

Specialist Environment

Dedicated spaces for the postgraduate community have been developed to enable the postgraduate community to flourish. These spaces, for thinking and practice, are located centrally within the School of Art, allowing easy access to an extensive range of workshops where the combination of traditional and state of the art equipment opens up a world of exciting possibilities.

Course Content

The MA Design: Graphic Design and Art Direction is made up of four units totalling 180 credits.

The programme is designed to help you acclimatise to the challenges of MA level research and practice, enabling you to identify and describe a clear direction for your postgraduate design study.

You will be encouraged to develop design propositions that encompass key design issues and have complexity and ambition, taking full consideration of the relative contextual drivers.

You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry.

Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – whatever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.

If you choose to progress to MFA Design: Graphic Design and Art Direction award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.

This route is focused on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.

Resources

We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the newly refurbished Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.

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MA Communication Design is currently undergoing a name change to become MA Graphic Communication Design. If you are a prospective student, you will be applying to MA Graphic Communication Design with an updated curriculum.

Introduction

Graphic Communication Design is the carrier signal for the twenty-first century. MA Communication Design at Central Saint Martins brings together design-led and research driven approaches to an increasingly important practice and field of study. We take a critically informed and widely experimental approach to the production, form, and circulation of knowledge. We facilitate our students to become versatile makers, astute commentators, and positive agents of socio-economic, cultural, and technological change.

Content

In 1964, Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan famously flattened the distinction between ‘medium’ and ‘message’ and our understanding of communication has never been the same since. In the same year, British designer Ken Garland published the first version of the 'First Things First Manifesto' in which he challenged a new generation of graphic designers to reclaim purpose and meaning. Fifty years later, the time has come to more fully integrate and thus amplify these two powerful proclamations.

As the 'operating system of the 21st century', communication design touches every sphere of human and political interest, impacting profoundly on culture, technology, social justice, economics, the built environment, globalisation, policy, sustainability and much more. MA Communication Design promotes a shared exploration of an ever-changing subject whilst encouraging and supporting the development of individually negotiated projects.

Unit 1: Shared Language

This unit acts as an induction into the college and the subject. You will participate in a range of taught coursework including design briefs, workshop introductions, and history and theory lectures.

Unit 2: Communication question

The emphasis of this unit is interrogation of both your practice and the broader field. Tutorials and critiques focus on continuing your development of a well-contextualized body of written and visual outcomes.

Structure

MA Communication Design is offered in a two-year, 60-week, extended full-time (EFT) mode.

MA Communication Design is credit-rated at 180 credits, and comprises two units:

Unit 1 (60 credits) lasts 20 weeks and includes a range of taught coursework

Unit 2 (120 credits) lasts for 40 weeks, from term 3 in year one, and contains regular formative assessment opportunities.

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